Who Am I?

A lot of people don't know this, but when a girl, i was actually shy, timid and quite fearful. My mom says that around the age of eleven, almost overnight I became brave and confident, and it has been that way since.

Now I find myself in this completely alien culture and there is a bit of a lost feeling. From the moment I was born I have picked up millions of cues about the culture around me about how to express myself to those around me. Subtle things like posture, facial expressions, and the colors you choose to wear all mean something in your community and culture around you.

Now, at the age of 26, I have hit the reset button. I am reduced to an infant. I don't know how to communicate anything verbally, or even worse non verbally. If you ask me who I am I would genuinely tell you I am creative, intelligent and confident. It hit me my first day here...I have no reference of how to communicate those aspect of myself to those around me. What I project as creative in America, could look normal, or even quirky in Montenegro. Even confidence will look different here. If I smile at people while on a walk, they think I am making fun of them, If i compliment someone's child, i am bringing a curse on them. If everyone around you perceives your actions differently that what you intend, friendly, confident, artistic,  after a while are you really still that person?

I the midst of an overwhelmingly lost feeling, I can find my anchor in who my maker says that I am...loved, cherished, redeemed and beautiful.  With Christ I walk boldly, knowing he is guiding my steps. He has given me identity cannot be lost, stolen, misunderstood or misplaced, it is simply truth. The anchor of the cross binds me to grace that bears peace that transcends space, time, perceptions, or circumstances.